Compass Investments

– It is expected that data centers and cryptocurrency mining sites will double their electricity needs.

– The increasing power needs of Russian e-stores require significant investment in generation.

It is estimated that their energy consumption will reach 2% of the total national consumption in the foreseeable five years.

Russia’s AI-enabled computing complexes and crypto-mining farms will significantly increase electricity consumption in the coming years, and the capital will have to allocate trillions of rubles to prevent energy shortages, according to a new analysis.

The calculations take into account the expected expansion of two sectors that rely heavily on energy-intensive computing equipment. Both of these clusters are becoming increasingly important for Russia, which seeks to master advanced AI developments and at the same time monetize digital asset mining as a backup source of income in a constrained environment.

electronic vaults and crypto farms linked to AI are expected to double energy consumption.

Electricity consumption by facilities involved in digital currencies and artificial intelligence (AI) applications will account for 2% of all energy consumed in Russia by 2030, according to Vitaly Sergeichuk, a member of VTB Bank’s Management Board.

This is 2.5 times more, provided that the overall growth of energy consumption in the country has slowed down to 1% this year, said the head of a large state-owned bank, the second largest in Russia.

Sergeychuk spoke at the investment forum Russia Calling! held in Moscow. According to the business publication Kommersant, he emphasized that Russia will need to build new generating capacity to eliminate energy shortages and ensure uninterrupted supplies.

The capital investments required for this purpose are estimated at 6 trillion rubles (over 77 billion dollars), the banker emphasized during his participation in the international event.

See also Amazon unveils AI chip to challenge Nvidia and Google.

The key consumers of electricity in Russia in the future will be AI-based data centers, industrial production, housing construction and other areas, he specified.

Russian server parks currently consume at least 1 gigawatt of electricity.

According to official data announced by Sergei Sasim, director of the Center for Electricity Research at the Higher School of Economics, the energy consumption of data centers in Russia now amounts to 1 gigawatt (GW) and is expected to reach 2.5 GW by 2030, which is equivalent to 1.3% of the total.

Other estimates suggest that their needs already account for 1.5 – 2 GW of installed capacity, and some forecasts suggest an increase to 3 – 4 GW over the same period.

Sasim noted that AI currently occupies only 4-8% of all computing power. Although its share may grow to 10-15% over time, he believes that the main driver of consumption growth will not be this, but the overall development of the IT sector.

expert also believes that the figure of 6 trillion rubles mentioned by the head of VTB may be overstated, as it exceeds 17.5% of all Russian investments in the new generation [of equipment/capacity].

Yuri Shvydchenko, head of TeDo’s technology practice, agreed with Sasim, adding that the current data center market size of less than 200 billion rubles (just over $2.5 billion) is insufficient to cover the cost of the necessary generation facilities.

See also Australia is developing an AI strategy, rejecting stricter regulation.

Konstantin Stepanov, director of data center development at RTK-DC, cited the International Energy Agency’s data that server parks consume about 1-1.5% of the world’s electricity generation, predicting that by the end of the decade, their share will reach 4% .